220 THE LOWER AMAZONS. Chap. YI. 



high, with remarkable breadth of shoulder and full 

 muscular chest. His comrades called him the com- 

 mandant, on account of his having been one of the 

 rebel leaders when the Indians and others took San- 

 tarem in 1835. They related of him that, when the 

 legal authorities arrived with an armed flotilla to 

 recapture the town, he was one of the last to quit, 

 remaining in the little fortress which commands the 

 place to make a show of loading the guns, although 

 the ammunition had given out long ago. Such were 

 our travelling companions. We lived almost the same 

 as on board ship. Our meals were cooked in the galley ; 

 but, where practicable, and during our numerous stop- 

 pages, the men went in the montaria to fish near the 

 shore, so that our breakfasts and dinners of salt pira- 

 rucu were sometimes varied with fresh food. 



Sept. 24fth. — We passed Entre-as-Ilhas with the 

 morning tide yesterday, and then made across to the 

 eastern shore — the starting-point for all canoes which 

 have to traverse the broad mouth of the Tocantins 

 going west. Early this morning we commenced the 

 passage. The navigation is attended with danger on 

 account of the extensive shoals in the middle of the 

 river, which are covered only by a small depth of water 

 at this season of the year. The wind was fresh, and 

 the schooner rolled and pitched like a ship at sea. 

 The distance was about fifteen miles. In the middle, 

 the river view was very imposing. Towards the north- 

 east there was a long sweep of horizon clear of land, 

 and on the south-west stretched a similar boundless 

 expanse, but varied with islets clothed with fan-leaved 



